The scientific community needs to increase its involvement in defending science education -- especially evolution -- according to a coalition of seventeen scientific and educational societies, including the National Academy of Sciences, the National Science Teachers Association, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, and the American Institute for Biological Sciences.

The National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine recently released Science, Evolution, and Creationism, a book designed to give the public a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of the current scientific understanding of evolution and its importance in the science classroom.

A non-partisan coalition is calling for a presidential debate on science and technology. "Given the many urgent scientific and technological challenges facing America and the rest of the world, the increasing need for accurate scientific information in political decision making, and the vital role scientific innovation plays in spurring economic growth and competitiveness," the coalition writes, "we call for a public debate in which the U.S.

The first issue of the new journal Evolution: Education and Outreach is now available on-line, and it's a doozy! Featured are original scientific articles by Daniel R. Brooks and Eric P. Hoberg, Niles Eldredge, and William Miller III; lesson plans and thematic expansions by Anastasia Thanukos, Michael A. Gaspar, and Gregory Eldredge; reflections on evolution by Ian Tattersall, John N. Thompson, David Ziegler, and T. Ryan Gregory; and curricula focusing on evolution from Joseph Fail Jr.

NCSE congratulates Bruce Alberts of the University of California, San Francisco, on his appointment as editor-in-chief of Science, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He succeeds Donald Kennedy, who served as editor-in-chief since 2000.